Musk is being realistic about this venture. The entrepreneur and futurist clarified that Tesla's self-driving car would give the computer 90 percent control of the vehicle. Otherwise, it would take much longer to get one on the road, since "it's incredibly hard to get that last few percent."

Tesla's already hiring for that incredibly hard job, too. A listing on the company's jobs board seeks an "Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Control Engineer" who will "be responsible for developing vehicle-level decision-making and lateral and longitudinal control strategies for Tesla's effort to pioneer fully automated driving." Candidates with Ph.D.s are preferred.